


Not This Asshole...

by ObsidianSparrow



Series: Not This Asshole... [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-12 02:08:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5649769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsidianSparrow/pseuds/ObsidianSparrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So this started out as a harmless self-indulgence that I didn't plan to ever make it past three pages and it was never going to see the light of the day. Needless to say its evolved into more. There are more chapters to come!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not This Asshole...

Supreme Leader Snoke had no time for weakness, Kylo Ren was reminded of the fact very quickly. After the fight for Starkiller base it had been decided that his training would finally be completed. He’d been drifting in and out of consciousness in the infirmary at the time of the decision but as soon as Kylo had come to, General Hux had informed him of the order. It had taken a few minutes for the information to sink in, but when it had Kylo had felt a surge of adrenaline. He wanted nothing more than to prove himself to Snoke, to prove that he was worthy of his position and title. But the training was brutal: endless hours of lightsaber duels, force training, gruelingly complicated battle arrays. By the third day of the training, Kylo Ren was beginning to show signs of wear.  
The lanky Knight was hardly ever seen around the ship anymore. If Ren was not holed up in the training room with the Supreme Leader, he was holed up in his bedroom. There were whispers of relief at first, the cost of maintaining the ship dropped by almost half overnight. But after another two days the ship seemed strangely empty and much too quiet. By the end of the week, no one had seen Ren for almost forty eight hours. Hux would never admit it out loud but there was a growing concern in the back of his mind. Ren was probably the most infuriating creature to ever walk the planet: he was arrogant, unstable, and destructive. At the same time the Knight did have a handful of redeeming qualities. Hux eventually took it upon himself to ensure that Ren had not died in his room or something equally gruesome.  
He brought his hand up to the door and offered a few quick raps. When there was no answer, Hux thinned his lips in annoyance and cleared his throat.  
“Open the door, that’s an order.”  
Silence.  
“Kylo Ren, I know you can hear me. Open this door right now before I get a Stormtrooper to blast it down.”  
More silence. Hux felt anger rise in the back of his throat like bile and decided he’d had quite enough of waiting. He was just about to call the bridge and demand they manually open the door when the thing hissed open of its own accord.  
Ren stood there, expression unreadable. There was an angry purple bruise that seemed to stretch from the left side of his jaw all the way to the corner of his eye. Judging by its coloring it was still fairly fresh. New pink skin covered the jagged scar that cut diagonally across his face. There was a muscle jumping in his jaw from the force with which he was clenching it and Hux could feel the irritation rolling off of Ren in waves of heat. It looked like he hadn’t slept decently in days which was only highlighted by skin that had always been a little too pale.  
“How can I help you General? Or are you simply here to bash on my door like a deranged lunatic?” Ren demanded acidly.  
For a moment, Hux was at a loss for words. He had never seen Ren look quite so beaten down. Then again it was often difficult to tell what was going on behind that mask. Regaining his composure after only a second or two, Hux shook his head and grit his teeth.  
“I wanted to ensure that you hadn’t curled up in some corner and died. You’ve been absent from meals for a few days,” Hux replied in a clipped tone. He was already regretting his decision, Ren obviously did not care about anyone’s concern. Something passed over the other’s eyes but the emotion was gone before Hux had a chance to get an accurate read on it.  
“As you can see I’m perfectly well. Now leave.” The Knight reached up and went to close the door. As he did so, Hux caught sight of a bandaged hand. In a quick movement that seemed to startle Ren, he took hold of the young man’s wrist. A brief glance of the injured hand showed signs of one or two broken bones, definite swelling.  
“How on earth did you do this to yourself?” Hux demanded, looking up at Ren for an answer. As far as he was concerned, Ren was a vital tool to the cause of the First Order and as such it was necessary that he stay in working condition.  
“Supreme Leader Snoke emphasized that pain and anger are the easiest ways to focus the Dark Side of the Force. Physical pain is a useful tool to further my training and ensure that in the next battle I do not fail.” Ren replied, pulling his hand out of Hux’s grasp.  
The emphasis that the young man placed on the last few words made the general pause. It did not take someone with the ability to read minds to see that Kylo Ren poured absolutely everything he was into being a capable Force user. But the thought of the young man physically harming himself, breaking a bone on purpose, in order to further his training seemed absolutely medieval to Hux. The general cleared his throat.  
“Go sit down.”  
Ren seemed confused and leery of the commanding tone in Hux’s voice. Instead of arguing the Knight went to sit down at the small desk he kept in his room. The dark eyes narrowed as Hux neared. It felt a bit like approaching a wild animal, one that was just as likely to tear off your face as it was likely to leave you be. Without any hesitation at all, Hux rifled through a few of the cabinets until he found a roll of bandages. It was highly unlikely that Ren was going to allow the medical droids to take a look at him so the next best thing was to set the bones.  
“Take off that ridiculous cloak and roll up your sleeves,” Hux continued in the same commanding tone, turning to face Ren.  
The words seemed to further confuse the night and irritation blossomed across the sharp features. “You’re not my commander, General. I would tread lightly,” Ren threatened.  
Hux resisted the urge to scoff. While it was very true that Kylo Ren only answered to Snoke, that did not mean he had free reign to do as he wanted. Rolling his eyes at the vague threat, Hux gestured impatiently.  
“Supreme Leader Snoke would be very displeased to hear that you’re once again causing problems on my ship. I daresay another such report would make him question whether or not you have the control to complete your training,” Hux hinted, voice dangerously smooth. The words seemed to do the trick and Ren huffed out in annoyance, sweeping off his billowing cape and rolling up the sleeves of his cloak.  
The pale skin there was littered with fading bruises, likely from sparring. Hux’s eyes swept over a few of them before he sunk down into a seat opposite of Ren. Gloved fingers carefully took hold of the delicate wrist. Hux marveled that the Knight had not broken it yet, the joint hardly seemed sturdy enough to withstand the hell that Ren was put through. Shaking off the thought, Hux did away with the loosely wrapped bandages that were in place over the injured hand.  
“My health is hardly any of your business, General Hux.” Ren’s voice was a lethal whisper, like the hiss of a snake poised to strike. Hux could feel the weight of the other’s presence all around him, it was a bit like being pressed upon from all sides. Really it was a bit intimidating but he refused to linger on that emotion. One learned very quickly to be careful around Ren. The Knight picked up on weaknesses easily and would not hesitate to manipulate them.  
“Has anyone ever told you that your sunny disposition will not likely win you over friends and admirers?” Hux replied with a chuckle. His fingers moved quickly, barely brushing against the bruised skin of Ren’s hand and was once again surprised by the drastic temperature changes that the young man could go through. There was only a vague sort of heat radiating from his skin at the moment, a bit like an electric current.  
“Only the foolish seek admiration from the masses.”  
Hux said nothing of the statement and instead focused on his work. It was a quick job to finish wrapping the injured hand. He pulled away and let his eyes roam over the other man. With the mass of black robes it was difficult to tell the state that Ren was in, but Hux suspected that there were more broken bones and nasty looking bruises.  
“Have you been eating regularly?” Hux asked in the same clipped tone. He knew that any inkling of concern would only further rile Ren.  
“I’m not a child, I don’t need you to baby me.” Ren’s voice was once again filled with barely muted fury. The young man shoved down his sleeves then pulled his cape back on as if he could hide beneath the layers and layers of fabric. Power sparked in the air as Ren’s temper was ignited. Restlessly he stood and set to pacing about the room like a caged animal.  
“As I explained to you, your health is a concern for the First Order,” Hux replied smoothly, standing and clasping his hands behind his back. “You need to take care of yourself Ren…” Hux started in a gentler tone, hoping that it would soothe the muted rage that was rolling off of the Knight.  
All at once the air seemed to leave Hux as he was slammed back against the nearest wall. The force pressed down upon him more insistently, like the weight of a ton of sand that sought to suffocate him. Ren had turned towards him, dark eyes laced with fury. Every muscle seemed to stand out against that pale skin. Hux’s fingers went to his throat to claw at the invisible force that was centered around his throat. Ren raised his hand as if to throttle Hux with it. The hand dropped and suddenly the weight was gone, allowing him to slide down the wall. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears.  
“Get out.” Ren snarled.  
Feeling rage course through him, Hux drew himself up to full height and glowered at Ren. It was one thing to hurl insults at one another and another entirely to physically attack.  
“Rest assured, Supreme Leader Snoke will hear about this outburst,” Hux threatened before sweeping out of the room.  
There was no time wasted in making sure a report was sent to Supreme Leader Snoke. Kylo Ren would not continue acting out in such a manner, Hux was sure of that fact when he was through speaking to Snoke. The anger was beginning to fade away to be replaced by a dull sort of satisfaction.  
The feeling didn’t last long.  
If the last week had been strangely quiet, the following one was absolutely silent. Kylo Ren was spotted only a few times on the ship, moving about it like a ghost. The unfortunate Storm Troopers who happened to meet him in the hall never walked away without some sort of misfortune befalling them. By the end of the week six of them had been to the infirmary from wounds they’d sustained from being Force-Pushed by Ren. Hux had gathered his resolve to talk to the Knight one night. But a rumor spread around the ship like wildfire that prevented him from stalking to Ren’s quarters. Allegedly the young man was in the infirmary after collapsing in the hallway. Hux was informed that the collapse was likely due to sheer exhaustion. Medical droids were having a bit of a hard time getting close to the Knight. He kept crushing them.  
Intent on avoiding the destruction of anymore expensive equipment, Hux left one of the captains in charge of the bridge then strode down to the infirmary. Ren was half sitting up in the bed, hands clutching metal edges that had already been bent in his fury. There were a few medical droids hovering about him, trying to get the Knight to lie back.  
“I see you’ve decided we’ve gone too long without destroying equipment,” Hux commented from the doorway. He could feel Ren’s attention turn to him, like a physical weight. The hostility was hard to miss in those dark eyes. Ignoring it, Hux took a step forward then waved off the droids. “If you’re not going to take care of yourself, then you’re going to have to endure the infirmary. You do have a body no matter how much you enjoy pretending you don’t.”  
“I’m quite aware of that fact, thank you General,” Ren replied in a chilled tone.  
“Then you have two options: either allow the medical droids to do their jobs or continue to struggle and get knocked out.”  
For a moment Hux was a little concerned that Ren was going to throw him up against a wall again. There was seething rage written all over his face. Instead the Knight laid back against the bed, a muscle in his jaw working furiously as if he were gritting his teeth very hard. Hux gestured impatiently for the medical droids to continue on with their work. They stripped off the layers and layers that Ren seemed to hide himself under, exposing the Knight’s chest. The stress of his training became more clear then. Fading, yellowed bruises bloomed across his chest and there were a few burn marks. Hux suspected they were from a lightsaber.  
It took the droids less than an hour to get the necessary nutrients back into Ren, to make sure that there were no broken bones or the like. As soon as he was cleared the Knight swept his clothes back on. The rage was still on his face, but it was difficult to see beneath the icy exterior.  
“Am I allowed to leave now, General?” Ren demanded.  
Hux chuckled quietly to himself. While Kylo Ren was certainly a force to be reckoned with, there were times when he appeared no more threatening than a wet cat. This was one of those times. Giving a quick nod, Hux gestured to the door then swept out after the impatient Knight.  
“I don’t need to be followed,” Ren hissed as Hux fell into step beside him.  
“Don’t flatter yourself. Your quarters and the bridge happen to be in the same direction. Besides, I worry for your fragile health,” Hux teased with a sarcastic smile. The words seemed to do their job and he felt a spark of anger ignite the air around Ren.  
“My health isn’t fragile.”  
“You could have fooled me. First you break your hand and now you’re collapsing in the hallway. Perhaps I need to follow you around to ensure that you don’t end up passing out into your breakfast,” Hux continued in the same mocking tone. It was too easy to get underneath Ren’s skin sometimes and it was more than a little fun. More often than not the only color that graced that porcelain skin was the red that flooded it when Ren was angry. Had the Knight been a little less combative Hux would have spent more time around him.  
“I’m going to crush you one of these days, smash you underneath my boot like the bug that you really are,” Ren threatened, pushing Hux away from him with a pulse of Force.  
“Always so hostile,” Hux quipped, falling back into step without missing a beat. “On a more serious note, Ren, you do have to take better care of yourself. You’re an important weapon for the First Order. Obviously your training is important but it hardly does any good if you’re pushing yourself too far.” Coming to a stop outside of the Knight’s bedroom, Hux clasped his hands behind his back and turned to face Ren. The other man looked uncomfortable, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.  
“Why do you care?”  
“As I said, you’re an important tool to the First Order,” Hux repeated. “You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t totally understand why someone as young as yourself has to be put through such rigorous training, either. Supreme Leader Snoke had you in this regimen before you’d finished healing from the fight on Starkiller base.” In his own way, Hux did care about Ren’s well being. The young man had been through quite a bit and it seemed that the shit just kept piling up.  
“Are you questioning the Supreme Leader?” Ren asked quietly. There was a smirk playing about those full lips.  
“Not at all, the methods simply seem strange to me. If you’re dead from exhaustion you’re hardly going to be any good to the First Order,” Hux replied shortly. “Are Force-users somehow able to handle more than the average person?”  
“I know the limits of what my body can handle,” Ren asserted confidently.  
“Do you really?” Hux replied, unable to keep the grin from creeping onto his face. He took another step closer to the slightly taller Knight, a few inches away from Ren. Crimson mottled the pale skin and for the first time in Hux’s memory the young man looked flustered.  
“I assure you, I do.”  
“It seems to me that you still have a few lessons to learn,” Hux continued smoothly, his eyes darting down to the bruises that covered Ren’s knuckles. The Knight quickly pulled his hands into the folds of his cloak. He opened the door of his room then took a quick step in as if to put space between them.  
“Well if I ever need a lesson you’re the last person I’ll be calling. Good day, General.” The door hissed shut in Hux’s face.  
The rest of the day was dull in comparison. There were repairs to oversee, troops to keep in line, and as usual a mountain of paperwork. It was well past his usual bedtime when Hux dragged out the last stack of papers to fill out. Gloved fingers went to rub at the bridge of his nose in hopes to stave off the headache he could feel coming on. All he wanted was to crawl into his own bed for a few hours. Such peace did not seem to be in his fate. Hux rubbed at his temples as he heard his office door slide open and someone enter.  
“Whatever on earth is is, it can wait until morning,” he snapped. There was no patience left in him for the tedious problems of his troops. When the person in front of him did not move, Hux huffed out an annoyed sigh and snapped his eyes open.  
The anger drained away to be replaced by avid curiosity. It was no Stormtrooper that stood before him. Instead it was the masked, black-robed Kylo Ren. There was no way to tell exactly what expression he was wearing behind that metallic mask but there was an air of uncertainty to him.  
“Can I help you Ren?” Hux asked, arching an eyebrow and leaning over the desk.  
For a moment the Knight did not move and Hux started to worry that the young man was finally having a mental breakdown. One hand reached up under the mask to tear it off then drop it to the floor with a heavy clunk and it the uncertainty was clear on Ren’s face. There was also something else, something difficult to place. The Knight strode forward with the same confidant, sure strides he always used to stalk around the ship. It was only when Ren was very close that Hux noted the young man was breathing quite heavily.  
“What do you mean when you said I didn’t know the limits of my own body?” Ren demanded.  
“Ren, it was nothing more than a quip. I was teasing you,” Hux replied in exasperation. “If you weren’t such an idiot when it came to social things you would have picked up on that.”  
The dark eyes narrowed in suspicion and Ren took another step closer. There wasn’t much space at all between them, nothing more than a few inches. In such close quarters Hux could see the dark bags under the Knight’s eyes from lack of sleep. It didn’t seem as if the training was getting any easier.  
“I think you’re lying,” Ren accused.  
Hux arched an eyebrow, standing up out of his chair. Ren was a few inches taller than he was but that didn’t intimidate the general. Thinning his lips, he couldn’t resist the urge to smirk. It would drive the Knight up the wall. Perhaps there had been more to his little tease. There was no denying that Ren was physically attractive but there was just the pesky matter of his horrible attitude.  
“Do you now?” Hux purred. “Exactly what do you think I meant?”  
The air seemed to crackle with power, charged with something. A faint pink splashed across Ren’s face and he leaned in even closer as if inspecting something. It was difficult to see beyond the confusion on his face. Hux could see hints of something else, excitement perhaps?  
“I think I’d like to have that lesson from you, now,” Ren replied quietly.  
For a minute, Hux was quite sure that he’d heard wrong. It was difficult to imagine being in such a situation and really he’d only ever daydreamed of something. Being on a ship for weeks on end meant that they rarely got to experience port. As such you couldn’t help but see your shipmates in a new light. But Hux had never dreamed that Kylo Ren would ever be in his office, looking at him with bedroom eyes asking for a lesson in limits.  
“A lesson, hm? I don’t know if I can work you into my very busy schedule,” Hux mused, running a few fingers across the alabaster skin of Ren’s cheek. He felt the young man shiver. It was likely a mistake, indulging in such carnal desires with someone as unstable as Kylo Ren. At the same time it was a bit too tempting of an offer to turn down.  
“Don’t be thick, General,” Ren snapped, obviously frustrated.  
“So impatient, don’t be so hasty,” Hux reprimanded, giving the youth a pat on the cheek. “Meet me in my room. Twenty minutes.”  
Ren opened his mouth and closed it again, like a fish gasping for air. The young man finally settled on a curt nod, like they’d just agreed on a business transaction. He strode towards the door then, robes billowing out behind him.  
“Oh, and Ren? Don’t be late,” Hux warned quietly, reaching down to straighten the papers on his desk.


End file.
